A.D.H.D. Drug Shortage Has Patients Scrambling

A shortage of medication for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder has left many patients struggling to fill their prescriptions.

As Gardiner Harris reports, the shortages are the result of a troubled partnership between drug manufacturers, which want to maximize their profits, and the Drug Enforcement Administration, which wants to curtail abuse of the drugs.

Caught in between are millions of children and adults who rely on the medicines to help them stay focused and calm. Shortages have become so endemic — particularly of cheaper generics — that some patients say that they suffer almost constant worry that they will not get enough.

The disconnect between the D.E.A. and just about everyone else involved in the sales of the medicines is so profound that they even disagree over whether there are shortages. “We believe there is plenty of supply,” Special Agent Gary Boggs of the D.E.A.’s office of diversion control said in an interview.

But multiple drug manufacturers have announced that their medicines are in short supply. The Food and Drug Administration lists the drugs as being in short supply on its official drug shortages list. The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, which tracks drug shortages for hospitals, lists the medicines as being in short supply. Many doctors and patients complain about shortages.

Officials at the F.D.A. blame the shortages on overly strict quotas set by the D.E.A. — making for a rare open disagreement between two federal agencies.

“We have reached out to the D.E.A. and told them that there are shortage issues,” said Valerie Jensen, associate director of the F.D.A.’s drug shortage program. “But the quota issues are outside of our area of responsibility.”